Noticed Contradiction of Fed’s Ebola Quarantine Announcements?

October 30, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Health Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I heard that the Defense Secretary Hagal has new Ebola quarantine guidelines for returning soldiers from the Ebola nations in South Africa. They said that the recommendation came down from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Hagel Orders 21 Day Quarantine for Military

The day before on October 28th, President Obama chided our state governments for placing quarantine rules for health workers returning from these same areas.

President Rebukes States’ Quarantines

I agree with the President that it would be better to defeat this disease over in the nations where it is epidemic in proportion, but I do not see why we have to place this country in risk while trying to do so.

I disagree with him on rebuking the states. I hope the state’s continue to place quarantine rules, and I also hope our courts will back us up. One nurse now in Maine threatens to sue to lift the quarantine.

Also, California has joined the other major states in setting a quarantine. This certainly reaches across party lines.

It must also reach across our President’s administrative lines, as well. Though the President isn’t a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he does appoint them; and he is Commander-in-Chief of the US Military Armed Forces. The Secretary of Defense reports directly to him.

So he’s rebuking states for doing this, but he is quiet while his military does the same thing. Interesting.

On another note it was reported that there are 42 military personnel already in quarantine at a base in Italy.

The Day My Laughter Died

October 28, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Health 2 Comments

Laughter is such a good tonic, but I’ve been missing it lately. Actually, I have only myself to blame. I worried that this would happen, but I quickly got back into my work routine and plowed ahead. My dad was the laughter in my life, and I lost him in 2003.

Me and my Dad when I was 16.

We were close; and I worried that I would get depressed, so I began to work hard at weighing the sadness against all the blessings he brought into my life. The old hymn, “Count Your Many Blessings”, became a mantra for me during the time he was sick and afterwards.

Dad was the one person who brought laughter to my life–not just a little but a lot. He had a serious side, but you seldom saw it. The funny moments were never at anyone’s expense nor were they disrespectful. Most of the time they were self-derogatory but fleeting. He could also spin a yarn like no other.

Dad was Most Wittiest in High School

I realize now that it takes a certain type of intelligence to do this. He had it, but no one else in my family has it like he did. It wasn’t passed on. What was passed on was our love of laughter.

So now I’m reading that cardiologists tell their heart disease patients that one thing they can do to help themselves is to laugh–a lot. Research on the effects of laughter found that it is the opposite of mental stress. Mental stress causes blood vessels to constrict, which restricts blood flow and raises blood pressure.

Other research shows that laughter has the opposite effect. It has the ability to dilate the blood vessels, which helps blood flow better. Come to think of it, Dad had very low blood pressure.

There are other health benefits to laughter, too, such as improving sleep. There are studies that show that people who laugh more, sleep better. I know for a fact that my dad slept very well. That is how I used to slip out of the house when I was a teenager.

Research also shows that laughter improves memory. In communication studies (I have a Ph.D. in communication), they found that one remembers better when the message is presented through humor.

Children laugh all the time; and while our children are young, so do we. My best friend Jeannie and I used to sip wine and tell stories about the latest escapades of our children. We laughed and laughed–actually, so we wouldn’t lose our minds, but that is beside the point.

So I’m going to begin to try to add the laughter back into my life. We have so many opportunities. I’ll try to DVR more sitcoms. I do have a couple of current ones that I really like. I may even make a point of setting aside 10-15 minutes a day to look things up on the internet. There’s You Tube, a comedy radio station, and much more that I don’t even know exists.

Daddy passed fourteen years ago back in November, but it is my fault that the laughter went with him. I got busy working and forgot all about it. It is my loss, and I need to fix it.

I just didn’t have to work so hard at it before. He made it so easy.

Dad and My Daughter Jamie

How do you keep the laughter in your life? Did you have someone who made your laugh? Do they still do it?

Why I’m Stressing Over Hurricane Irma & Marco Island

October 28, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Family Life, Travel 4 Comments

We just watched the massive Hurricane Irma rake over Marco Island on Florida’s west coast. We’re worried.

Chuck and I were dating when he first told me about this special room he had had at the Marco Island Marriott. I stayed at that hotel about twelve years earlier when it was newer. I wondered if the hotel still had the charm I found back in 1976 when I was a 22-year old executive secretary working for a flash in the pan lobbying and association management firm called Pulse, Inc. By Chuck’s description, it was.

> He described the room as a two-bedroom suite overlooking a wide beach with its stairs leading down to a restaurant nearby. I tried to picture it in my mind, but my room while there in the mid-70s was called a Villa, and I didn’t remember any second floors in that part of the hotel.

> Chuck and I continued to date, married and spent the next twenty-five years coming to this room at the Marco Island Marriott. Our children grew up coming with us to Lanai Suite 193, and now they are bringing their children. The hotel later named it the Bora Bora Suite.

> There are so many stories and so many memories, like the day I decided to send a load of clothes to the laundry and they billed us $79. I was afraid to tell Chuck how stupid I had been. Or the time our son figured out that his room key was a blank check to anything he wanted to do at the resort. That bill included an ice cream party for him and some of his buddies at the little ice cream shop on the premises. He said, “just order what you like, the hotel is free for my family”. It wasn’t; we were just on an expense account. He obviously didn’t realize that only Chuck’s carefully weighed expenses were reimbursed.

> Chuck’s mother came frequently over the years, and we were floored one day when she showed up after being missed for over an hour with a picture of her dangling from a para-sail. She was 78 years old, wore the room’s clear shower cap to keep her beautiful gray, quaffed hairdo from getting wet, and charged the $75 to our room. I guess she thought it was free, like our son. Chuck, also known as the wallet by our kids, paid the tab anyway, overjoyed by the spontaneity of his mom.

>The last year we were there my sister and her two daughters came, and my other sister’s daughter made the trip several times, too. The room is bigger than some people’s homes. It has two very large bedrooms, and you could parallel park a semi in its long living room with its wall of windows overlooking the beach. There is a large conference size dining room table that will seat 10 to 12 comfortably, The suite even has its own gym with a treadmill that we never use, because why would you run on that thing when a walk on the beach is right out your door.

> Our bath attached to the master bedroom is bigger than most RVs. The jacuzzi tub is too big for just one person, and you can shower five giggling girls at one time in the walk in shower with its six jets and overhead rain shower.

> The kitchen is in a room by itself with a microwave and frig. We bring lots of soft drinks, snacks, and quick foods for the kids who dine in mostly throughout the week. We even bring a blender and make our own piña coladas using fresh pineapple, milk, coconut extract, bananas, ice, and rum. We usually have at least one dinner there with colleagues who have been coming to this conference as long as we have. Like ours, all their kids grew up meeting each summer at the Marco Marriott.

> We have been through three renovations and redecorations. When we first started coming here, the room was decorated in tropical greens and blues with a limestone floor. Now it is British colonial island with golds and navy and muted orange and a yellow marble floor,

> We’ve slept much more than the six that the beds sleep, with kids on the floor everywhere in sleeping bags. Last year all three kids came with their spouses and our six grandchildren and my sisters and her girls. We had to finally break down and get another room for the overflow.

> 2014 was special, though, because the unthinkable happened. After 28 years of staying in this room, the Marriott told us that the hotel would go through a full renovation of the lanais and the meeting rooms. We would have to have our conference somewhere else in Florida. We chose another Marriott in Orlando, but that wasn’t the biggest program.

> From their description of what would happen during the renovation, we thought that Lanai Room 193 may no longer exist, or at least in its current form. It looked as if they might tear the building down and put in a multi-story building. If it is like the other suites in the hotel, it might become a penthouse higher in the air. They asked us for years if we would like to stay in one of the penthouses in the two towers, but I’ve seen them and this room because of its location is the pick of the litter.

>I remember our last week there, and it was one filled with much nostalgia.

A fisheye view from the Bora Bora Suite looking northwest.

> All those years, all those meetings, all those friends, all those family members, some of which have since passed. Chuck’s mom passed over five years ago, as have both of my parents. One of the nieces passed away. Now Chuck and I are 73 and 63 respectively and are both gray.

Walking to dinner on Marco Island.

Then we found out that the room would exist when we returned only renovated. We were thrilled. It was good news indeed.

We were supposed to return to Marco last July for the conference, but the meetings rooms were unfinished. It will be 2018’before we return, and now Hurricane Irma’s eye crossed the island. We’re wondering how the room did.

The Marco Marriott is on its west coast, on a beautiful wide beach. But the Bora Bora suite is right at beach level. I’m sure Irma has filled it with beach water and sand.

A view due west from the Bora Bora Suite.

Like everything else, I guess Linai 193 must pass, too. Then again it might get totally renovated. We’ll know next July at the conference which is planned again for the Marco Marriott.

I wish all our friends who work there all the best in this ugly storm.

Sunsets on Marco Island are the best!

Florida Joins Other States for Mandatory Monitoring of Travelers From West Africa

October 27, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Health Leave a Comment

Florida’s Governor Rick Scott took further action to prevent Ebola. New Jersey, New York, and Illinois have done the same. Read below.

STATE ORDERS MANDATORY EBOLA MONITORING OF TRAVELERS FROM WEST AFRICA via Melhor Marie Leonor of the Miami Herald

Gov. Scott announced an executive order mandating that all people returning from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone take part in twice-daily health evaluations for 21 days.

Florida Department of Health officials have already identified four individuals who arrived in Florida following trips to one of the Ebola-affected countries. There are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Florida.

“We are moving quickly to require the four individuals who have returned to Florida already – and anyone in the future who will return to Florida from an Ebola area – to take part in … health evaluations with DOH personnel,” said a statement released by the governor’s office. “We are glad we do not have a case of Ebola in Florida, but we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure we never do.”

Scott blamed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for not providing risk classification information for travelers arriving in the U.S.

It’s not clear how Florida health officials will enforce the governor’s order.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Illinois recently announced mandatory 21-day quarantines for arriving travelers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa.

Scott’s order impacts all persons traveling from Ebola-affected countries.

In Florida, individuals who are deemed high-risk following evaluations by Health Department officials will be placed in quarantine.

Here is What Florida Is Doing to Prepare for Ebola

October 27, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Health Leave a Comment

The news on Friday about another Ebola victim, this time in New York City, was truly unsettling. Add New York state to the top populated states in the nation that now have an Ebola victim that may have exposed others to this disease. The others are Texas and Ohio. The incubation period is 30 plus days, so it will still be days before we know if it has spread any farther.

On Saturday, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott released the following. I hope other states are doing the same, because it appears that the CDC may be moving too slowly. His state is below.

While we have no confirmed cases of Ebola in Florida, and we hope we never do, we are continuing to prepare by working with healthcare providers across the state and the CDC to ensure every precaution is taken to protect our citizens and our visitors. That’s why we have taken action.-Florida Hospitals were asked to establish mandatory Ebola training programs to protect healthcare professionals. To date, 92 hospitals have completed this healthcare professional training. AHCA is continuing to follow up daily with hospitals to ensure the training is complete.

-The Department of Health has also identified $7 million in federal grant funding that Florida is using to buy high-level Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and other equipment to enhance preparedness efforts.

-The Florida National Guard is now ramping up its preparedness efforts by setting up two Rapid Response teams that will be able to provide healthcare services for any potential Ebola cases in Florida.

While we have boosted our preparedness efforts on the state level, we have continued to press the CDC to enhance their efforts to protect Florida. We’ve called on the federal government to add Florida airports to the list of airports that are implementing additional screening for passengers. At this time, five US airports have implemented these additional screenings, and Florida airports should be included. We’ve also continued to request the CDC provide 30 additional testing kits to cover all of Florida’s public hospitals. To date, the CDC has only offered three.

We are continuing to do everything it takes to ensure we’re prepared. For more information on what can be done to protect yourself and your loved ones, visit the following websites: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Rick Scott

Governor

First, I would like to thank Governor Scott for this.

Let’s be diligent people. This may be a matter of life or death. Let our voices be heard! Make sure our leaders are on top of this. The death rate for this disease is 70%.

This is a nasty disease. Today, I went looking for pictures of what the disease looks like. I had heard about fever and diarrhea, but not skin problems. I found the following example. There were lots more photos online, and they were truly frightening. It goes so far beyond fever and diarrhea.

So, I’ll start right here with a question back to Governor Scott.

Governor Scott, why aren’t we as a nation or state quarantining anyone who has come into any contact with someone who has had this and who travels here from a nation, state or city which has had an outbreak? We quarantine plants and animals, why not people? There may be a simple answer, but I would like to hear it.

Are You Ready for Halloween?

October 27, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Family Life, Fashion 1 Comment

Well, actually, I am. I’ve been planning a Malicifent costume since the beginning of the month. It depends mostly on make-up, but I have a great cape of black tulle that I bought from Target that will be fun to wear. We’re planning to trick or treat with the grandchildren on Friday night.

My youngest daughter’s blog “The Uncoordinated Mommy” has a wonderful “how to” post for making a baby’s Olaf costume. The link is below.

No Sew Olaf Costume

If you haven’t seen the movie “Frozen”, then you’ve missed one of the cutest Disney characters ever. Olaf is a little comical snow man. Like most snow men made by children, he is small and has a misshapen head and body. He comes apart and pulls back together again. He says the funniest things. He stole the show.

So check out how easy the girls made an Olaf costume for the youngest member of our family. Here she is with her older cousins, who dressed as the Elsa, the Snow Queen and her sister Princess Anna, also from “Frozen”.

Gone Girl: A Movie Review

October 25, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Movies 5 Comments

Ever gone to see a movie, and walked away just hating it? Well, I did that last night.

Harold wanted to go see the movie “Gone Girl”. I checked its reviews, and it seems that everyone loves this movie. So we went.

I found myself mesmerized by the plot, the characters, the actors, even the fashions. Then something happened.

It ended, and I hated the entire movie.

I told Harold as I left the theatre, “That movie is what is wrong with America today.” He told me that I needed to come down off my high horse.

Well, I cannot help it. Lately, I’ve been wondering about our ability as humankind to look at someone and determine if they have an unsavory character or if this is someone we can depend on.

We idolize movie stars, who live lives totally different from our own. We place politicians on a pedestal that no one can remain upon, and then we tear them down until they are the lowest of the low. And we place our faith in their hands, even before we get a chance to understand them. How can we understand them, when our media gives us only what they want us to see.

We take a violent juvenile, and then we take their side even when our gut tells us otherwise. Lines are crossed constantly, and our young people are always watching.

And now I sit through a movie that takes me on a ride and lines are crossed again until I watch something totally wrong, totally out of character, and I am expected to chuckle when it is over–to not take things or it too seriously. I find myself slipping away, wondering if I will reach a time when I can no longer judge right from wrong for myself.

So I hated this movie, because I felt duped again. I fell into the trap, and I could have easily shrugged it off and gone my way. The problem, though, is that my better judgment says otherwise. There is a bigger picture here, but we all tend to just sweep it under the rug–especially to be remain cool.

All the values that I gained from my parents, my childhood, my teachers and my extended family tell me that watching all this media that seeks to distort my mind is just not good for me. I feel myself changing, and I do not like it.

Those values that I gained from my earlier days are what guide me to help others, to be patient, to be understanding, and to be kind. I worry that we and our children are not getting enough of the these attributes and are getting too much of the distortions.

The movie was good, but I wish I had never seen it.

Finding Blessings Even in Life’s Tribulations

October 25, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Family Life, Health 4 Comments

I just ran across an article at FoxNews.com that I think is inspiration for us all. I copied it in its entirety below.

I could identify with this story. Years ago my uncle entered into the later stages of this disease, and his children finally came to the decision to place him in a facility. My grandmother, his sister and a very strong woman, wouldn’t have it; so she drove to south Florida and brought him to her home in north Florida.

About two days later I was washing dishes at my kitchen sink and noticed my uncle walking down the street in front of our home alone. I called my grandmother, and she didn’t even realize he had left the house.

His stay with her lasted hardly two weeks. He kept wandering away, as one cannot keep an eye on them 24/7. In defeat she took him back down to south Florida.

Here’s is Kim Campbell’s story about her husband.

‘Thank you, heavenly Father’: Faith, Alzheimer’s and my husband Glen Campbell

By Kim Campbell, Published October 24, 2014, FoxNews.com

Glen & Kim Campbell

My husband, Glen Campbell, has stage 6 Alzheimer’s disease. Seven months ago, at the recommendation of his doctors, we placed him in a memory care facility close to our home in Nashville.

It’s a community that’s designed specifically for the needs of those who have Alzheimer’s and dementia. They have all kinds of therapies and activities that stimulate parts of the brain affected by the illness. It’s a safe and secure environment where he receives around-the-clock care.

It’s been good for him. He just seems more at peace there than he was at home, where he became increasingly agitated and frantic.

He lives in a mental fog most of the time. He’s lost most of his language skills and has a hard time communicating. He still has moments of lucidity, though, and those moments let us know he’s still in there and that he’s the Glen we’ve always known. He can make short sentences and say things like “I love you” and “We are so blessed.”

The aides and nurses say he must have been a godly man because they always see him thanking the Lord. I’ve seen him walk over to the window and lift up his hands and say, “Thank you, heavenly Father.”

Glen Campbell as a Younger Man

Those moments are so comforting because when you’re facing your mortality, that’s when you want to know God is there. That’s when you really want to draw close to Him.

When I see him do that, I know God is with him, and he’s aware of His presence. He’s relying on the Lord and gets his strength from Him.

People should not give up on others who have dementia. The essence of who they are is still alive and still in there.

He’s still the Glen Campbell he’s always been. He’s always especially loved children and old people. There’s this little lady in a wheelchair in the facility, and she can’t speak at all. He will walk over to her and take her little hand in his and say, “You are so precious.”

He’ll kiss her on the forehead, and she’ll just look up at him. She has no idea who he is, but you can tell it comforts her.

Even in his affliction, he’s ministering to people and trying to be a blessing.

In between those moments, he’s lost. He wanders. He can’t communicate. He doesn’t understand what others say to him. It’s very hard to direct him even to sit in a chair in the dining room.

When we did the film, “Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me,” which documents his last farewell tour, Glen was in stages 2-4. He knew what was happening to him and he wanted to let people know what Alzheimer’s is really like.

He was passionate about making this film because he hoped it would be a catalyst for more funding for research to find a cure. He wanted to encourage other families who are dealing with this disease to keep living their lives, supporting each other and lifting each other up.

When Glen got the diagnosis and decided to go public, it was because he wanted fans to know what was going on in case he exhibited odd behavior on stage, like repeating a song or forgetting what key it was in.

He just wanted them to understand. But after he made the announcement, we all wondered if anyone would want to come see someone with Alzheimer’s perform.

We wondered if his fans would rather remember him the way he was. Maybe it would be depressing. Or maybe no one would be interested either way.

But what we found was the exact opposite. The first show he did after making the announcement sold out. From the time he walked on stage to the time he walked off, it was one standing ovation after another. It was clear fans were there to shower him with love and to root for, support and encourage him. It really blessed Glen and encouraged him to continue on.

Offers began to pour in from around the country for Glen to come to their cities to perform.

What began as a five-week farewell tour turned into 151 dates. His last show was at the Uptown Theater in Napa, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2012.

The first 15-20 minutes were a train wreck. He was having difficulties. His guitar wasn’t loud enough. It didn’t have the quality he wanted. He became very agitated on stage. He kept turning his back to the audience. His band was very uncomfortable. It was a tough show.

But the audience, again, was so supportive. They cheered for him without fail and without question. They loved him unconditionally.

He snapped back and finished the show strong. It was good, but it was clear it was time for us to end the tour and say farewell.

He closed the show with “A Better Place.”

Daily we pray for grace and mercy as he approaches the final stages of this illness and are so thankful for the moments we see Glen being Glen.

Kim Campbell is married to country music singer Glen Campbell.

What Are We Doing As A Nation To Prepare For the Ebola Virus?

October 21, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Health Leave a Comment

So what are we doing about the Ebola Virus? This is a question that I have, so I went looking for some answers.

I saw where the President did appoint an Ebola Czar, but what actions are we taking? What did we learn from the situation in Dallas, and what are we changing to make sure it doesn’t happen again?

Ebola

For a more complete report, which was updated yesterday, October 20th, take a look at the CDC’s Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals page.

The Last Child to Nurse…The Last Child to Cuddle

October 20, 2014 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Family Life Leave a Comment

The following video is a monologue given by my youngest daughter. She was chosen to be in the first “Listen to Your Mother!” show in Atlanta. Tracy is a blogger and blogs at “The Uncoordinated Mommy”.

Tracy was my last child. Since her monologue was about her last child, I can certainly relate. Like her, I cannot remember breast feeding my oldest, but I remember trying to capture those special moments when I realized that Tracy Lynn would be my last child–that she would be the last to nurse, the last to cuddle. It is a special bond, because you have total control and you realize it. You want to hold on to that as long as they will allow you.

Below is her video. It is four minutes long, but she captured those moments. I was able to relive them through her eyes.

Life is a circle!

We just watched the massive Hurricane Irma rake over Marco Island on Florida’s west coast. We’re worried.

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